1. Writing Historical Fiction from an Interview
Using abstraction to tell the story of a major moment in history through the eyes of a family member or neighbor

2. Historical Fiction project
You are going to write a historical fiction narrative about a tragedy from the perspective of an adult you know, when they were a child
To do this, you will:
Interview this adult about their relationship with this tragedy
Research the tragedy to understand what happened
Write a first draft of your narrative from the perspective of your interviewee
Read your first draft to your interviewee and collect feedback
Make changes based on that feedback and write a final draft

3. The Interview
For homework tonight or this weekend, you are going to interview a family member or a neighbor about a significant historical tragedy, chosen from the list below. You will write down their answers to the questions given, as well as two questions that you will come up with yourself. Make sure to get specific details! Have your interviewee choose from the following tragedies. If possible, have them choose one that happened when they were close to your current age.
Assassination of John F Kennedy (1963)
Challenger Space Shuttle explosion (1986)
Assassination of Malcolm X (1965)
Deadly Los Angeles riots (1992)
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr (1968)
World Trade Center truck bombing (1993)
Munich Olympics massacre (1972)
Oklahoma City bombing (1995)
Jonestown suicides (1978)
Columbine school shootings (1999)
Assassination of John Lennon (1980)
September 11 terrorist attacks (2001)

4. Interview Questions
How old were you when this tragedy occurred? Who did you live with?
How did you find out about this tragedy?
What were your first thoughts and feelings about this tragedy? What did or didn’t you understand?
How did other members of your family, or other adults around you, respond?
In addition to these four questions that everyone will ask, you will ask two more questions of your own. Don’t ask simple factual things – ask about feelings, reactions, perspectives, changes in your interviewee’s life, etc.

5. Research
In class, you will research the tragedy your interviewee chose to learn some additional key facts and details about what happened. When you write your narrative, you will portray these facts from the point of view of your character. They could be watching the news, reading the newspaper, talking to someone else, etc.

6. Feedback
After writing the first draft of your narrative, you will read it to your interviewee. Your interviewee will give you detailed feedback about your narrative, and you will write down their feedback. You don’t have to make every change they suggest, but you should be as authentic to their story as possible.

7. Doesn’t Meet Expectations [0] Approaching Expectations [1-2]
Doesn’t Meet Expectations [0]
Approaching Expectations [1-2]
Meets Expectations [3-4]
Exceeds Expectations [5]
Interview
Interview not completed
Interview shows little effort
Few details included
Answers not written in complete sentences
Interview shows some effort
Some details included
Answers written in complete sentences
Interview shows excellent effort
Many details included
Research
Research not completed
Very few notes taken
Notes aren’t important relevant to tragedy
Some notes taken
Notes are somewhat important and relevant to tragedy
Many notes taken
Notes are all important and relevant to tragedy
Narrative: Style
Narrative is not written from the perspective of the interviewee
Many spelling and grammar errors
Narrative is written from the perspective of the interviewee, but that character is not well developed
Some spelling and grammar errors
Narrative is written from the perspective of the interviewee, and that character is somewhat developed
Few spelling and grammar errors
Narrative is written from the perspective of the interviewee, and that character is very well developed
No spelling or grammar errors
Narrative: Details
Narrative includes no meaningful details
Narrative includes few details about the historic event
Details are presented as facts that do not flow well with the narrative
Narrative includes details about both the event and the interviewee
Details are integrated into the narrative
Narrative includes rich details about the event, the interviewee and how the interviewee responded to the event
Details are well integrated into the narrative and from the perspective of the interviewee
Response to Feedback
Feedback not collected
Some unimportant feedback collected
Feedback did not lead to changes
Some meaningful feedback collected
Feedback led to some changes
Lots of detailed, meaningful feedback collected
Feedback led to big, meaningful changes